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Shadow
of a Doubt (1943)
In Alfred Hitchcock's most suspenseful thrillers (and
his personal favorite), based on a script by Thornton Wilder:
- the opening sequence identified the chilling, twisted,
devious homicidal character of Uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten)
- the "Merry Widow Murderer" - evil personified from the very first scenes,
as he fled from Philadelphia, after committing a third murder of
a rich widow; he suspected that his apprehension by police was imminent, and schemed to drop
out of sight by visiting his adoring, middle-class relatives, including
his unsuspecting, spinsterish older sister Mrs. Joseph (Emma) Newton
(Patricia Collinge) in California
- Uncle Charles' train arrived in the clean, quiet,
small and bright town of Santa Rosa, California, as black funereal
smoke belched into the sky and a dark, tarnishing shadow was cast
over everything to symbolize his ominous arrival
- there were instances of telepathic twin-ness similarities
and affinities between the congenial and suave Uncle Charlie and
his symbiotic namesake - his young favorite niece "Charlie" (Charlotte)
Newton (Teresa Wright) who was named for the uncle she idolized:
("I can't explain it but you came here and Mother's so happy and I'm
glad that she named me after you and that she thinks we're both alike.
I think we are too. I know it... we're sorta like twins, don't you
see?");
a cat-and-mouse game developed between the two, that turned out
to reveal that they were diametrically-opposed opposites
- at first, young Charlie was fascinated by her uncle's
wit, urbane and worldly sophistication - but then a "shadow
of a doubt" slowly began to emerge; the first suspicions about Uncle Charlie arose when
he refused to take a national poll survey and have his photograph
taken by interviewer Jack Graham (Macdonald Carey) and photographer
Fred Saunders (Wallace Ford); it was later revealed to young Charlie
that both Graham and Saunders were police detectives investigating
Uncle Charlie as a murder suspect
- Charlie rushed to the town's library
just before it closed at nine pm, to see the contents of an article
that Uncle Charlie had suspiciously cut out of her father's newspaper;
in the reading room, she reacted dramatically --
her eyes widened as she found damning evidence that her Uncle was
the "Merry Widow Murderer -- Strangler of Three Rich Women" - and that
he was the object of a nationwide search; she also put two-and-two
together - the initials engraved on the back of an emerald ring given
as a gift to her by Uncle Charlie matched the initials of
the murderer's third victim - it was the film's major turning point
- emphasized by the camera's overhead shot isolating her at a distance
from behind - among the dark shadows
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The Town Library Sequence - Young Charlie's Discovery
of Her Uncle's True Identity
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- in a key dinner table speech (staged as practice
for a speech he was promised to give to the town's womens' club),
a contemptuous, misogynistic monologue was delivered by Uncle Charlie
- about his hatred for rich, lazily fat, detestable, middle-aged
widows; he was viewed in profile for most of the speech, as the camera
moved even closer: "...Women keep busy in towns like this.
In the cities it's different. The cities
are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands dead, husbands who've
spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. Then they
die and leave their money to their wives. Their silly wives. And
what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels,
the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money,
eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and
all night, smelling of money. Proud of their jewelry but of nothing
else. Horrible, faded, fat, greedy women"
- young Charlie objected to the degrading characterization:
"They're alive! They're human beings!"; Uncle Charlie turned
toward the camera, in gigantic close-up and coldly asked: "Are
they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat wheezing animals,
hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?"
- in the nearby 'Til-Two cocktail lounge - a
smoke-filled, noisy and dark bar populated by war-time sailors and
less-than-respectable, downtrodden ladies both inside and out, the
two Charlies sat at one of the booths for an ominous discussion;
they faced each other as Uncle Charlie began to act
aggressively toward his niece: "...Now look, Charlie,
Something's come between us. I don't want that to
happen. Why, we're old friends. More than that. We're like twins.
You said so yourself...."
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and then he began lecturing her, accused her of knowing nothing about
the real world, and confronted her about what she knew about him: "You
think you know something, don't you? You think you're the clever
little girl that knows something. There's so much you don't know.
So much. What do you know, really? You're just an ordinary little
girl living in an ordinary little town. You wake up every morning
of your life and you know perfectly well that there's nothing in
the world to trouble you. You go through your ordinary little day
and at night you sleep your untroubled, ordinary little sleep filled
with peaceful, stupid dreams. And I brought you nightmares! Or did
I, or was it a silly inexpert little lie? You live in a dream. You're
a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do
you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know if you rip the fronts
off houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter
what happens in it? Wake up, Charlie! Use your wits. Learn something"
- as she approached closer to him and learned the truth,
she realized that he was aware of her knowledge and suspicions; she had
to decide whether she should reveal her findings to the authorities
or protect her family; after her confrontation
in the seedy bar with her uncle, she reluctantly agreed to not say anything
if he promised to leave town soon, to avoid any scandal and to protect
her mother from knowing that her younger brother was a murderer
- there were two failed 'murder' attempts to kill young
Charlie - a tampered-with broken step on the back stairs, and a malfunctioning
garage door paired with carbon monoxide poisoning
- an intense tracking shot, from Uncle Charlie's POV,
was seen as young Charlie glided down the stair railing, with the incriminating,
offensive, condemning object (the emerald ring) framed in a gigantic
closeup on her right hand
- the film was enriched by the running dialogue
between two mystery buffs who read pulp mystery stories: Charlie's
father Joseph Newton (Henry Travers) and his brother-in-law Herbie
Hawkins (Hume Cronyn in his film debut), who often debated about
the best techniques to commit the 'perfect murder'
- in the exciting conclusion
as Uncle Charlie was departing on the train for San Francisco (on the
same train as widowed Mrs. Potter (Frances Carson), his next victim),
he struggled between train-cars with young Charlie, restraining her
and announcing his homicidal intentions: "I've got to do this,
Charlie, so long as you know what
you do about me"; when he tightly grabbed her and awaited the
train to pick up speed: ("Not yet, Charlie, let it get a little
faster! Just a little faster! Faster! Now!"), she reversed positions
with him, upset his balance and pushed him away - he fell headlong
into the path of an oncoming, speeding train on an adjacent track;
the image dissolved to the recurrent one of dancing couples twirling
to the Merry Widow Waltz
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Uncle Charlie: The "Merry Widow Murderer"
Young Charlie (Teresa Wright) Greeting her Uncle Charlie
in Santa Rosa, CA
Uncle Charlie's Gift of an Incriminating Emerald Ring
to Young Charlie

Close-up of Uncle Charlie Viewed in Profile During His
Hateful Dinner Table Speech
Ominous Discussion Between Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie
in a Bar Booth
Uncle Charlie Promised to Leave Town

Tracking Shot of The Incriminating Emerald Ring on Young Charlie's Finger



Uncle Charlie's Failed Murder Attempt of Young Charlie on Train
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